A blog all about life as a new mom, and our adventures in natural parenting.

Monday, December 31, 2012

Woolzies Dryer Balls Review & Giveaway!

I was recently given an opportunity to try some Woolzies Dryer Balls, to review. I received a box of 6 dryer balls, enough for a large load to try, and Woolzies will also be giving away a box to one lucky blog reader!

I received a box of 6 Woolzies, enough for a large load, though they do recommend 8 balls for X-large loads. I admit, at first I was hopeful, but skeptical. Woolzies are meant to work much like fabric softener, but without the harsh chemicals. Woolzies are meant to soften naturally, reduce drying time by up to 25%, reduce static, help eliminate wrinkles, and are chemical free, hypoallergenic, and safe for people with wool sensitivities. While these are all things I really like, I almost expected to be disappointed. Overall, I was not disappointed at all.

The Woolzies balls look very much like large tennis balls. You simply toss all six in your dryer with a load of laundry, and dry like normal. They are very simple to use, and can be left in the dryer so they are all set to go for future loads. They are also guaranteed to last for 1,000 loads, which (unless you're a laundry doing freak), is a long time! A box retails for $35.99, with free shipping to anywhere in the U.S.A and Canada, and $6.95 shipping world wide. Considering the amount you might spend on a box of dryer sheets in a year, I feel this price is a good deal.

Now to talk about my experience with Woolzies thus far. I typically have a difficult time getting our clothes, and especially our cloth diapers dry in one cycle. I have to either turn the dryer temperature to a higher setting, or run more than one cycle. Both of which are terrible for the environment, something I actually do care about. Plus high heat just isn't good for our cloth diapers. So I decided to give it a try with the Woolzies, and set the dryer temperature back to low, and reduced the drying time. Guess what! Everything was dry in one load in about 60 mins, whereas it usually takes at least 90 minutes on medium or high heat to dry completely. Honestly, that alone is enough to sell me on the product.

I admit, I'm not one to care much about wrinkles. I'm a stay at home mom after all, so what do I need to worry too much about wrinkles for? Heck, most days I'm lucky if I get a chance to get out of my pajamas. Even so, I decided to pay attention, because this is something Woolzies supposedly helps with. Our clothes came out of the dryer, not completely wrinkle free, but with noticeably less wrinkles than normal. I even let a load sit without folding for awhile, and they still didn't wrinkle. I bet this is in part because our clothes were actually dry, and not still damp.

The Woolzies are also rather quiet. Our dryer is in the basement, so it wouldn't be an issue for us if they were loud. I admit, I sort of expected six balls bouncing around the dryer to be a bit noisy. I took a few moments to listen though, and couldn't even tell they were in there. They are fairly soft, so I guess that makes sense. Still, a nice feature for anyone considered about noise.

The only thing I wasn't sure about with the Woolzies at first, was static. The first couple of loads I dries using the Woolzies actually came out of the dryer with a noticeable amount of static. To be honest, I can't really compare this with how much static you get with dryer sheets, and these loads did include items of polyester, which tends to produce a lot of static. I stopped using dryer sheets a long while ago, due to the chemicals in them. I've also learned that dryer sheets used in the dryer at all ever, just like harsh detergents in the wash, can still leave residue that is harmful to cloth diapers. (So I'll be encouraging everyone here to please not use them.) Anyhow, I was a bit surprised by this static. However, on the upside, the static completely dissipated by the time the clothes were folded. I also haven't noticed any static after the first couple of loads I did using the Woolzies.

So overall, I am very pleased with Woolzies, and will continue using them. If you would like to try them yourself, go ahead and enter the contest below to win a box of 6, enough for a large load from Woolzies.. I'll leave the contest open for 1 week, so until next Monday, January 7th. Good luck!

we have long since stopped using sheets when our 4 yr old had bad ezcema as a baby and still has it very bad, but i havent found anything to substitute sheets to make our clothes fluffy and now using diapers would be nice to find something to throw in with them as well.

dryer sheets are not just bad for cloth diapers.. they are full of all sorts of carcinogens!!! i'm so glad i stopped using them a long time ago! i would love to try woolzies because i have three wool dryer balls and love them, but three just doesn't seem like enough to make a huge difference in our gigantic laundry loads - the woolzies are large and sound like they will last for a very long time! anything that cuts back on energy usage is fantastic in my book! :)thanks so much for the giveaway!puddle_of_light at yahoo dot com

I want to try Woolzies Dryer Balls to cut down on my cloth diaper inserts drying time! It takes at least 30 mins to dry on the medium heat cycle! That's a lot of energy when you are washing dipes every two days or so!

Now that we don't use fabric softener, the laundry isn't quite as soft. Also, there is a TON of static from drying the microfiber CD inserts. I'd love to dry Woolzies to improve both of those problems!